Bond and Beauty
by Lady Genjutsu
Summary: A story about the feelings between a pirate, a viera, and a queen. Spoilers.


**Bond and Beauty**

She was stunning.

Balthier regarded Ashe in revered silence. She wore an ornate silver gown that reached the floor and evening gloves to match. Upon her head was a crown of white gold encrusted with countless diamonds, an adornment he knew she was wearing for the first time, for he had just witnessed her coronation earlier that afternoon.

She looked happier now. During the ceremony, Balthier had though she looked rather nervous and solemn, but now she was clearly enjoying the ball in her honour, talking with her guests and subjects with laughter in her eyes. He was glad for her.

"Perhaps our Queen would like to see her old captor again," a wise sounding female voice said.

Balthier turned his attention to the viera standing majestically beside him. Her large dark eyes had been watching him, as though reading his mind.

"Captor? Had I truly been her captor I would not have been invited to this dinner. Besides, that would make you, dear Fran, my evil accomplice. Anyway, if one such as she asks to be kidnapped, who am I to refuse? I even asked for payment." He smirked at the tall dark-skinned lady. He hoped Fran would not attempt to remind him of the fact that he had in the end returned the said payment, a silver ring, to Queen Ashe.

Fran too, looked stunning that evening, not that there was ever at time when she didn't. However, today she had honoured Queen Ashe's coronation day by changing out of her wood-warding clothes into a long black dress that clung tightly to her slender form. The back of the dress reached the floor but the front was hemmed in slight ruffles above her knees and exposed her shapely legs.

As he had done on so many other occasions, Balthier had to remind himself not to gawk at his lovely comrade. He fixed his eyes on hers and awaited her reply.

Frans faint smile was as mysterious as the rumours of her age. "Yet I do not think that was the only way you held her captive. After all, it was not I whom she was pleading to return when we were left behind on the Bahamut."

Balthier was surprised to hear this comment. His surprise was not because he not suspected he 'captivated' Ashe in a more romantic sense, for he knew he had a way with most women and Ashe had made obvious displays of amorous behaviour in the days when they were freeing Dalmasca. He was more taken aback by the fact that Fran had made any sort of comment, for she usually was rather reserved when speaking about Balthier's affect on other women, and was usually all to quick to deflate his ever-growing ego with a reminder to keep his mind focus on more pressing matters than women.

"Fran, please." It was always his response when he could not outwit sight remarks, and he knew it was a phrase that she associated with resignation. She simply knew him too well.

What Fran might not have realized was that Balthier was actually troubled by Fran's interest in Ashe's feelings. It was almost as though she were encouraging him. Yet he could not quite discern a reason why this should be disturbing.

Now Fran was now casting him a different glance. It was an expression that he knew meant that he should be on the alert. When she turned her eyes to something over his shoulder, he turned around to see a vision of silver and diamond royalty gliding gracefully towards them.

"Queen Ashe, my lady," Balthier bowed his head as she approached, and in his peripheral vision he saw Fran doing the same.

"Hello Balthier, Fran." She smiled broadly at them. "Please, just call me Ashe, I'm the same person as before, after all. I'm so glad you two could make it! Fran you look astounding!"

"Thank you, but all eyes are on you tonight, you should know," the viera replied, bowing her head again slightly. Balthier could not help but wonder if there was more implied in the statement.

Ashe seemed to blush slightly, but gracefully continued the conversation. "How was Bervenia?"

"Oh, very prosperous, I should say," Balthier replied with a grin, though somehow his thoughts were still on Fran.

"Fran, please forgive me, but would you mind if I stole Balthier for a moment?"

"Not at all. I was looking for an opportunity to catch up with Kjrn for a moment," Fran answered, referring to the viera across the banquet hall.

With that, the tall, sleek and black beauty left with a dignified walk. Her long silver hair swayed gently with the motion, having been let down out of its usual ponytail to create a curtain of silky hair that adorned her mostly bare shoulders and back. Balthier watched her go with the same feeling of unease he had experience a moment earlier.

"Care to take a stroll with me?" Ashe asked, sounding almost timid compared to her usual tone of authority.

Balthier nodded with a charming smile. "Of course."

Ashe did not say anything at first. Balthier noticed she was leading them to the balcony overlooking Rabanastre, away from the rest of the celebrating crowd. She looked slightly bemused, even nervous, her clasped hands held before her in a way that displayed a little too much tension.

They arrived outside on the balcony, and both were bathed in the moonlight that illuminated the entire city.

"You seem rather nervous," Balthier stated, the silence having grown uncomfortable for him.

"I suppose I am, a little."

"It's a big job, being Queen," sympathized the pirate. "All this fuss must not make the magnitude of your duties seem any less daunting."

"Yes... It is a little overwhelming sometimes... But..." Here her clasped hands seemed to grip each other even more tightly, and she moved to the railing to cast her gaze out at the city. "... But that is not all."

Balthier joined her side at the railing, and he sensed the direction of the conversation was going to become uncomfortable for both of them. But he knew it had to happen, regardless.

"When you were left behind on the Bahamut... I thought I'd never see you again," she began meekly. "For months afterwards... Although I was filled with triumph and gratitude for the rebirth of Rabanastre, I felt an emptiness. When Penelo sent me that note, with the ring you took, I was filled with relief and... and something else."

"Ashe..." Balthier whispered.

At that moment his heart truly did ache for her. Yet, as she had spoken, Balthier had experienced a revelation that crystalized his own muddled feelings.

She turned towards him with tears in her eyes. He took her hands and held them in his own.

"You have experienced so much loss," Balthier began. "You lost your parents. You were widowed within months of your marriage. For a painfully long time, you lost your home and even your identity. Now, as the new Queen of Dalmasca, you face a world of responsibility and hard work, and you do not deserve to face it alone... And yet... Ashe, I cannot be the one to stand with you."

Ashe quickly turned her head down and away, almost as though his words had physically struck her. It pained him to watch her reaction, but he pressed on.

"Ashe, it is not that I do not care, nor that I have never considered you to be any man's most fantastic dream, but I am a sky pirate and love my freedom too much. You would regret it."

"Fran," she uttered simply, still avoiding his eyes.

"Pardon?"

"It's Fran." She did not sound accusing or resentful.

Had it been before this moment on the balcony, Balthier might have scoffed at her. After all, his partnership with Fran had always been platonic in all literal senses of the word. Yet right there on the balcony as Ashe had confessed his feelings for him, he had confessed to himself some feelings of his own.

And as he knew that Ashe deserved nothing but the truth, he did not hesitate to reply.

"Yes."

"She is extremely beautiful," Ashe sighed.

"She is, but so are you, my Queen. It is not her beauty that binds me to her. Beauty does not compare to a bond." He knew he was being completely honest.

Nothing else was said for a long moment. Eventually Balthier dropped her hands and pulled her into an amicable embrace.

"Fear not," he murmured to her. "I do not disclose this secret to just anyone, but you deserve to know that there are others in this land that can be rightfully called a 'leading man'."

The joke succeeded in producing a small chuckle from the Queen, and though when they parted she had glistening eyes, there was a small, genuine smile on her lips.

"I shall not be rude to the rest of my guests any longer. Let us return to the ball."

Balthier nodded, returning her smile.

When he returned inside to the ball, he found Fran was still talking to Kjrn. However, as soon as she saw him, she ended her conversation and walked over to him.

"Where is lady Ashe?" she asked.

"Returned to mingle with more of her guests I presume."

Fran lifted a thin eyebrow in a curious expression.

Balthier did not give her time to contemplate. "Care to dance?" he motioned to the many couples whirling in polite circles on the dance floor.

Apparently this was not a request she had expected from him, for her face depicted that rare expression she had only when he had caught her off guard.

"Dance?"

"Yes. It _is_ a celebration you know. It would almost be rude not to."

Before he could give her a chance to protest, he guided her onto the dance floor and lead them into a waltz.

Fran could not let her previous thoughts go.

"Why?" she asked, simply.

"Why what?"

"You and Ashe-"

"-Are dear friends. Nothing more. Are you disappointed? Were you hoping to rid me by having me 'settle down'?" Balthier's tone was full of playful mischief.

"No," Fran replied, keeping the dignity in her voice, as always.

"Than what, exactly?"

"I just want you to be happy." She said it in such a nonchalant way, and yet Balthier had never heard words of such sentiment come from her before.

He shook his head and held her just a little bit closer, murmurings into one of her long ears.

"I couldn't be happier being anywhere but right here, Fran."

Then their eyes met, and nothing more needed to be said.


End file.
